ADMINISTRATIVE THEORY AND PRACTICEof the crowd over the head.^259 When 'Ubaydulliih ibn Ziyiid was
governor in 680, the Kufan shurta consisted of four thousand caval-
rymen. Some of them were among the two hundred tribal leaders and
members of the governor's retinue who pelted the pro-'Alid crowd,
which had been stirred up by Muslim ibn 'Aqil, with clods of earth
and arrows from the wall of the citadel. In dealing with this sedition,
'Ubaydulliih relied on each 'artf as well as on members of the lJaras
and shurta to vouch for innocent members of the population, ordered
them to gather in the masjid, closed the gates to the side streets, and
had the shurta search the city house by house looking for Muslim.
When he was caught, 'Ubaydulliih detailed a member of the shurta
to execute him.^260
During the turbulent 680s, it became important for contending forces
to control the shurta at Kufa and Basra if they wished to hold these
cities. The shurta at Kufa was at least four thousand strong in 685.^261
Al-Mukh~iir formed his own shurta from among his followers who
armed themselves with wooden clubs (Khashabiyya). He sent eight
hundred of them to Madina to protect Mu~ammad ibn al-Hanafiyya
from Ibn az-Zubayr in 685. Members of his club-wielding shurta were
also with the army that defeated and killed 'Ubaydulliih ibn Ziyiid
and invaded the Jazira in 686.^262
AI-I:Iajjiij himself rose to notice as a member of the shurta of Da-
mascus.^263 According to ash-Sha 'bi, he described the ideal shurta com-
mander as a man who was constantly frowning, able to sit for a long
time, reliable, untreacherous, unwavering in truth, and able to resist
the attempts of the ashraf at intercession. When he was told that 'Abd
ar-Ra~miin ibn 'Ubayd of the tribe of Tamim was such a man, al-
I:Iajjiij put him in charge of the shurta at Kufa, although 'Abd ar-
Ra~miin would only accept the position provided that al-I:Iajjiij pro-
tected him from his dependents, children, and members of his retinue.
As head of the shurta, 'Abd ar-Ra~miin acquired an impressive record
for making the punishment fit the crime. He only imprisoned for debt.
If a man who had stabbed others was brought to him, he drove the
man's own knife into his belly until it came out his back. He would
259 Tabarl, Ta'rfkh, Il, 118, 129, 148.
260 Dlnawari, Akhbiir at-tiwiil, pp. 252-56.
261 Tabarl, Ta'rfkh, Il, 621.
262 Dlnawari, Akhbiir at-tiwiil, pp. 300, 305; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqiit, VI, 159; Sachau,
Rechtsbucher, pp. x-xi.
263 Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi, 'Iqd, V, 14,22.